1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a steering intention determination device that determines a driver's steering intention and a vehicle control device that performs control on a vehicle side based on the driver's steering intention.
2. Description of Related Art
In the related art, techniques for performing control on a vehicle side based on a driver's steering state (turn-and-steer steering state, switchback steering state, or steering holding state) that is determined are known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-175122 below discloses a technique for determining the driver's steering state with respect to a steering wheel in accordance with a power that is obtained by integrating the product of the time differential value (steering angular velocity) of a steering angle and a steering torque during a steering operation and performing steering control by using the result of the determination. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-219312 below discloses a technique for determining that the driver's steering state is the steering holding state when each of the first order derivative and the second order derivative of the steering torque is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
When the steering operation is performed, the driver has a steering intention (intention for performing turn-and-steer steering, intention for performing switchback steering, or intention for performing steering holding) following the steering state. Accordingly, the driver may feel uncomfortable with the control on the vehicle side that is performed in accordance with the steering state in a case where the timing of change of the steering state which is determined differs from the timing of change of his or her steering intention. It is desirable that the driver's steering intention is accurately determined so as to suppress the discomfort.